


Pink and Red

by alternative_interest



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, Hanahaki Disease, Unrequited Crush, Unrequited Love, slight emetophobia warning
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-21
Updated: 2020-11-29
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:28:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27651329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alternative_interest/pseuds/alternative_interest
Summary: Azula has grown closer to Ty Lee while traveling with her and Mai. However, she isn't good at recognizing her feelings for her friend, much less dealing with them. Something starts to change though when Azula coughs up a a petal. An actual flower. How will Azula manage to deal with Hanahaki while dealing with her mission of tracking down the Avatar?
Relationships: Azula & Mai (Avatar), Azula & Ty Lee (Avatar), Azula/Ty Lee (Avatar), Mai & Ty Lee (Avatar)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 39





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Ok so this is my first fanfic and I'll hopefully try to get used to posting once a week and becoming a better writer. I personally don't ship Tyzula and you might now be wondering why someone who doesn't ship it would be writing a fic on it. My plan is to write less about their relationship, and more about Azula coming to terms with her feelings and realizing her effects on others. Again, this fanfic is my first and I don't think I will be able to write super deep, but I'll try. I hope you all enjoy.

Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee were traveling on mongoose lizards town to town in hopes of defeating the avatar as her brother failed to do so. The sun shone high in the sky signalling that it was a little after noon. 

“Can’t we stop somewhere for the night? We’ve been traveling for too long now,” Mai complained. 

“Let’s say we stop to rest and the avatar could have finished mastering the elements. He could have a slight chance of winning this war. Would you like to be the reason the fire nation loses the war Mai?” Azula replied as she continued riding without a second thought. She had no time to waste as she could always perform the tasks her father gave her without fail. 

“C'mon Azula! We need to get a good night’s sleep if we are to capture the avatar,” Ty Lee pleaded.

Azula huffed and pulled her steed to a stop, “If you two are going to keep complaining, then I suppose we will stop somewhere for the night before I get a headache.” Each girl hopped off their ride. Ty Lee bound over to Azula and gave her a hug.

“Thanks Azula! You’re the best!” She cheered. 

“Yes, I know Ty Lee,” the princess responded. Ty Lee skipped over to Mai to gush over the cute town decorations of what looked like an upcoming festival. Azula took notice of Ty Lee's eyes lit up whenever she felt excited. She felt her chest tightening before letting out a small cough. From her mouth landed a small petal the color of a peach. She blinked rapidly not believing what just happened. A flower petal had just come out from inside of her.

“Will you allow us to stay in this town for the festival?” a monotonous voice asked. Regaining her posture, Azula turned to Mai.

“Sure I guess I’ll allow it,” Azula said with her usual poker face. Ty Lee clapped her hands in excitement. Azula didn’t let them stay for the festival, but rather so she could visit the town’s library to find an answer to her peculiar flower situation. She didn’t bother to tell Ty Lee that though because she didn’t want her questioning what might be so important that she would stay in town for or perhaps it was that she liked seeing her happy. Returning to the task at hand, Azula said, “Let’s search for an inn though first.” The non-benders nodded and the trio looked around town.

* * *

After doing some looking around, they found a place to take shelter for the night. Azula had also found where the local library was when her friends weren’t paying attention. Arriving at the inn, they met an elderly lady who they could only assume was the owner. The woman wore typical earth kingdom style clothing and had her grey hair tied back into a low bun.

Ty Lee grinned at the innkeeper and began to speak in her cheery voice, “Hi there! We were hoping to get a room for the night with three beds.” 

Returning her kindness, the old woman smiled, “Hello dear, I’m afraid that we only have one room available tonight that has two beds. Is that alright?” Azula laughed at the ridiculous situation. She had finally decided to stop in a town, and the town where she stopped at didn't even have room for them. 

“Listen here lady, we’ve been traveling all day only to return to an incompetent inn. If this place doesn’t have a suitable room, then tell us where we can find one,” she growled. Azula was getting awfully tired of people not being able to do their jobs correctly. First her brother, now this woman. The owner of the inn looked startled for a moment before scrunching her face.

“I’m afraid that the other places in town are full. Many people travel here to see our festival so you won’t have much luck. You should work on your attitude miss, it’s unbecoming of a young lady,” said with a scowl on her face. Azula furrowed her eyebrows. She was getting fed up with this, but did not let go of her seemingly calm facade.

“It appears that you don’t know who I am,” Azula said which caused the woman to raise an eyebrow. Judging from her reaction, Azula believed that the villager was curious about what the traveller could mean from her statement. Azula smirked and already planned what the innkeeper’s reaction would be. A bright blue flame appeared in Azula’s hand.

“A firebender!” the woman cried as she backed up. Still the firebender chuckled as the other girl shook in fear.

“I hope you also notice my hair piece for it is something that is exclusive to a certain Fire Nation family,” the princess grinned with a fiery glint in her golden eyes. The lady’s body trembled with terror while keeping her eyes fixed on the fire as though if she blinked that it would grow out of control.

“I-I didn’t know who y-you were! Please forgive me,” she stammered and bowed her head avoiding Azula’s cruel gaze. Ty Lee placed her hand on Azula’s arm.

“Azula, it’s fine. I’m sure she didn’t mean to offend you. Two of us can just share a bed,” she said. The fire princess didn’t move, but looked at her friend. She noticed that Mai had taken a step forward as well. Perhaps Mai was going to try to calm her down too, but Ty Lee beat her to it. Extinguishing her flame and relaxing her shoulders, Azula sighed.

“Very well then. We will take the room. Our payment will be sparing your life,” she decided. The innkeeper let out a big breath and nodded while meeting Azula’s gaze for only a second. 

As the girls made their way to their room, Mai rolled her eyes. “You don’t always have to make a big deal out of these things Azula,” Mai stated. Azula smirked and dismissed the other’s complaint.

“Oh nonsense Mai. Installing fear in people from the Earth Kingdom is necessary to avoid people acting out. It really is common knowledge,” she said while flipping her black hair. Mai did not respond to that and simply looked the other way with her tan eyes. Azula just looked at her perfectly manicured nails while thinking about how depressing it was around that girl sometimes. Mai could try to have a sense of humor she thought. It was more fun to be around Ty Lee at least. Her positive energy and ramblings about auras gave her an interesting character. At least together the three of them were a reliable team. Just as expected, only two beds were found in the room. The room wasn’t too big and was a cream color. The beds were just a pale green and there was pine color decor littered the wall. Ty Lee started jumping on a bed and giggling. 

“Wow these beds are so bouncy!” she cheered. It looked like she was having so much fun Azula noted. Mai and her expressionless face turned to the acrobat.

“Ty Lee, you shouldn’t be jumping on the beds like that,” Mai remarked. The brunette jutted her lip out and pouted. Then she sat crisscrossed on the bed and leaned her head, letting her long braid tilt to the side.

“Hey Ty Lee, you don’t have to listen to Mai. She’s not your leader, I am,” Azula chimed in. She didn’t have to look to know that Mai now held a slightly upset glare.

Mai responded as Ty Lee smiled, “Fine, whatever.” Ty Lee looked over at Azula with her grey eyes and beamed. Azula smiled back being proud that she was able to spite Mai and make the other happy. Her smile was more of a content one than a malicious one though. She almost shook her head to clear the thoughts of why pleasing her friend would make her feel the same way before remembering that people were in the room with her. Azula felt a tickle in the back of her throat.

“Pardon me for a second while I use the restroom,” the firebender said almost too quickly. She walked over to the bathroom as Ty Lee and Mai started a conversation. Inside the bathroom, Azula stared over the sink as she coughed. Out landed two more petals looking like the same ones that had left her body earlier. Her throat felt a little sore from the cough. She reached her hand to gently touch her neck in shock of what happened. Even alone, Azula’s face didn’t not show a trace of panic and instead only kept her nervousness in her head. She needed to head to the library soon to find an explanation.


	2. Chapter 2

After leaving the bathroom and disposing of the flowers, Ty Lee started interrogating her a bit.

“Are you ok Azula? I heard you coughing. Oh I hope you didn’t get sick from all this travelling! Who knows what kind of diseases could be in the Earth Kingdom! Yuck!” Ty Lee said while sticking her tongue out so the others could see her disgust. Azula waved her hand to dismiss Ty Lee’s comment. She didn’t need her friends concerning themselves with her own business.

“I’m fine Ty Lee. I must have just gotten something caught in my throat,” Azula answered. It was a believable excuse. The inn had some rather old decorations and there had to be some dust around. Before they could reply, Azula spoke again. “I’m planning to look around town for some information. You two can just go off and find additional info about what looks like an upcoming festival or something,” she proposed. Ty Lee’s grin spread across her face as she smiled wider, which Azula didn’t know was possible. Even Mai’s usual emotionless face looked surprised. Azula never let them split up.

“Well, then I guess we should be on our way. We can meet back here at sunset,” Mai said as if she was worried that Azula would change her mind if given another moment to think about her decision. Azula nodded in agreement and was glad that neither of them questioned what kind of information she was looking for as she was hoping to learn more about her coughing up flowers. Though if she did, she’d have a reasonable explanation. The princess liked to stay one step ahead of everyone. Ty Lee and Mai waved good-bye as the group parted ways. Azula was a little upset that Ty Lee didn’t even wonder where she was going and had assumed that she would have asked her. Azula always masked her feelings up though so her sorrow, if you could even call it that, did not show on her face.

* * *

After threatening a local to find where the library was, she walked in the direction towards it. She passed many vendors selling fruit and other items along with families. Azula noticed children clinging onto their mothers and believed the kids to be foolish. Didn’t they know that they would eventually leave their parents one day and that it was no use to get attached? Soon she arrived at the library and studied it’s grand physique. It towered over her with its gold infrastructure. ‘Perhaps this town is larger than I first thought. They hopefully should take advantage of the availability of this knowledge and not be as stupid as the innkeeper,’ Azula thought. When she entered, a man who appeared to be middle-aged and had a long, thin beard tried to greet her.

“Hello miss! Are you looking for anything in particular today?” he chirped in an attempt to try and be of use to Azula. She could handle things by herself as she had always done in the past and simply brushed past him as if he was invisible. He looked confused like he was not used to people returning his kindness, but put on his chipper face again. “Perhaps you didn’t hear me miss, do you need any help?” the man repeated, a bit less energetic than the first time. This time Azula faced the man with her fiery yellow eyes because she was aggravated by the man not being able to take the hint.

“And perhaps you didn’t notice me ignoring you. Go bother some other person with that gruesome voice of yours,” she hissed. Clearly her words had an effect on him as he stumbled backwards a bit before leaving her alone. Were all the people in this village annoying? Getting back on track again, Azula browsed through the library’s selection of books and went through each section until she found one on illness. Unfortunately, the books had mentioned nothing about coughing up flowers.

Then Azula’s reached to grab a rust colored book titled _Rare and Unusual Diseases_ . Her hand hovered over as she hoped that whatever she had wasn’t uncommon. After skimming over the text, the fire bender saw a page with flowers on it. On the page, it read, _Hanahaki Disease is a condition where a person in love coughs up flower petals as flowers grow in their lungs. At least now she had a name for her ailment, but the part about love confused her and continued to read. In the beginning, the infected person will only cough up petals. As the sickness continues, the victim will start to spit up more petals. Blood and whole flowers are vomited by whoever is inflicted with the illnesses in its final stage. Hanahaki Disease may prove fatal unless the person gets the flowers removed or the feelings are requited._

Azula felt the air leave her lungs. How could she possibly die from the disease? She was already too busy with her father’s orders to catch the Avatar and decided that as long as her sickness did not progress, she would be fine. All Azula had to do was find out who she ‘loved’ and stop ‘caring’ for them. It was a ridiculous notion that she would ever actually like someone. _Learning what the flower is and it’s meaning may be useful to learn what kind of love the person has._ Azula was getting tired of looking for books, but she still looked for a book on flowers and their meanings. She found one and pulled it from the shelf and paged through it until she saw a flower with petals akin to the one she had coughed up. The flower was a daffodil that was coral pink. Apparently daffodils symbolized new starts and rebirths, but also unreturned love. She was not convinced that she loved anyone, yet she hoped that her petals’ meaning was the former. Placing the textbooks back on shelves so no one would suspect anything, Azula left the library with her shoes clicking across the stone pathway.

‘Ugh I hope people don’t think I put the books back because I was responsible or whatever,’ she cringed and believed that she was above putting her own books away. That’s what servants were for. Azula had no use for such simple things and prefered to spend her time on more important tasks. People should never believe that she was a good person and forget to fear her. ‘Though taking people by surprise is an advantage in my favor if they are stupid enough believe that,’ Azula pondered.

“Good evening Princess Azula,” someone with a husky tone greeted. Azula turned to the owner of the voice. She saw that it belonged to a tall man with a top knot. Judging from his burgundy color armor with gold, he must have been part of the fire nation military. Of course Azula didn’t have everyone in the military memorized because there were thousands of soldiers who were just pawns in the game of war. The uniform indicated he had a higher position, but she did not know who the man was.

“And who do I have the pleasure of meeting today?” She inquired as she wondered if the fire nation citizen would be important enough to remember or not.

“I am General Oku. I have recently become a general so I assume that I would be unfamiliar to you,” Oku replied. “May I ask what you are doing in the area of town?” The general must have already guessed that she was searching for the Avatar. Well Azula obviously couldn’t just say that she was trying to find out what she was sick with so Azula spun a quick lie. With a smile and her face, she answered his question.

“I was looking if there was another option to travel more swiftly. Mongoose Lizards are not efficient enough to cover lots of ground over a short time you know? I,” Azula fibbed. The man’s attitude seemed to get a little more confident after what she said. He cleared his throat before speaking.

“Well you are in luck then. I have some tank trains that I am fixing and should be ready by tomorrow. It is an honor to serve the Fire Nation I must say,” the general said eagerly. Azula mentally rolled her eyes in her head. He was probably hoping that she would put in a good word for him to the Fire Lord. He should not have been excited about providing a tiny bit of use to her. She had to be polite though.

“I’ll come tomorrow when it is ready then,” the princess said civilly. General Oku nodded and the two parted ways. Azula continued to observe the architecture of the town’s buildings as she walked through the village.

“Azula!” a bubbly voice called. Azula whipped her head around to spot the person shouting her name and shifted into a slightly defensive position. Her body relaxed once she spotted the familiar pink outfit Ty Lee wore.

“Oh, hello again Ty Lee,” Azula remarked with a calm manner unlike her friend. Mai trailed not too far behind the acrobat. She had a bag that had the colors of the Earth Kingdom on it. “Hello to you too Mai.”

“So did you find the information you were looking for?” Mai asked while shifting the bag to her other arm.

“Yes, I did. Did you purchase something while going around town?” Azula asked while gesturing to what the other girl was carrying.

“I just bought some new daggers. It’s useful to have a variety of weapons,” Mai said while grabbing a blade. The blade was silver with a handle closer to a pewter color. More interesting than the dull color was the pink gemstone encrusted on it.

“I chose it for her because I loved the pink sapphire on it. It’ll totally complement her dark aura,” Ty Lee piped. Mai let out an exasperated sigh, but Azula could tell that she wasn’t insulted about her supposed ‘dark aura’ because of a small smile. Azula was a bit jealous at them spending time alone together and she took it out on Mai. 

“You already have enough knives already. There was no need to purchase another,” she said snootily. Ty Lee suddenly dug around the bag before grabbing something.

“Here Azula! I got something for you too,” the ex-circus girl interjected and displayed a bracelet. It was gold and had several small gems that appeared to be rubies. Ty Lee stared at the piece of jewelry for a moment. “Do you like it?” she said gently and looked at Azula to see her reaction. Azula pursed her lips before parting them to respond.

“Well, we shouldn’t be wasting money on useless things while we are here,” the firebender commented before seeing her friend’s face fall, “but I do think that the bracelet is pretty.” That made Ty Lee light up. Hesitating a moment, Azula spoke again. “Um, thank you I guess.”

“I am so glad that you like it!” Ty Lee cheered. “I can put it on you if you want.” Azula nodded as the girl slipped it on her wrist. Feeling slightly calloused, but otherwise soft hands touch her wrists made Azula feel something in her abdomen. Was this what people meant when they talked about having butterflies in the stomach? A cough left her lips abruptly ruining the moment. Azula could sense petals in her mouth. She swallowed them quickly to avoid letting them fall past her lips. Pretending that she coughed to clear her throat, Azula began to talk again.

“We should be heading home now. The sun should be setting soon,” Azula said. Ty Lee walked over to Mai’s side so that Mai was between her and Azula. The three girls left for home. Azula agreed to tell them what she learned about a way to travel faster. As Mai and Ty Lee chatted, Azula had only one thing on her mind. Could her Hanahaki Disease be caused by Ty Lee? - The trio had headed home quickly. They watched as the sky’s standard blue shifted into magnificent oranges and pinks to indicate that night time was approaching. Inside their room, Ty Lee and Mai shared what they had heard from the townsfolk about the upcoming festival.

“Apparently they hold a festival once a year to honor a spirit to keep it happy,” Mai explained.

“Spirits? This town sounds as ridiculous as my uncle,” Azula scoffed while admiring her nails. She remembered how her uncle had left the palace for a few days in search of finding his son in the spirit world. He ended up being unsuccessful, just like when he gave up at Ba Sing Se, but came back less depressed and more weak.

“Well I don’t think it sounds all that dumb. It’s ok as long if it’s a reason to have fun and celebrate!” Ty Lee interjected as she stood in a handstand. “It starts from sunrise to sunset so we’ll be able to check it out tomorrow.” Azula raised an eyebrow.

“I do not recall giving you permission to visit the festival,” she said sternly. Mai rested her hand on her chin and looked at Azula.

“We’ll have to wait for the General to finish working on the tanks so we can hang at the festival in the meantime,” the girl in dark red attire said listlessly. Azula clenched her teeth. How dare Mai try to leave on her own! She would have never allowed the three of them to divide into two groups in town if she knew that they were going to rebel like this. Azula glared at Mai as if she was trying to burn her with only her sight.

“It should not matter what does or does not fit in our schedule. The deciding factor is always if I permit you to go,” the princess said harshly. Mai started staring back at Azula, almost as if to challenge her. If Mai wanted to argue, then Azula could definitely argue. 

“Don’t fight guys!” Ty Lee cried and tossed her arms around Azula. Azula felt her face redden a bit and not from anger. Most people generally tried to keep their distance from her so Azula wasn’t all that used to others outside of her family touching her. She could feel a tickle in the back of her throat and could already tell what it was. She held her breath to avoid coughing and letting petals fall. With her silver eyes, Ty Lee looked at Azula. She did not look with anger as Mai did, but with kindness. “Azula, can we please go? I didn’t get to go with you today, so I want to spend time with you at the festival.” Azula tried to keep the petals down her throat and have her heart stop beating faster. She was nervous to open her mouth in case the daffodils would fall, but Ty Lee was expecting a reply. 

“We can go if it's that big of a deal to you two. I’d get a headache if you keep complaining,” she tried to whisper to prevent anything from exiting her mouth. Azula said it rather rudely though so Ty Lee could not suspect she had feelings for her. Azula had a soft spot for her that she’d never admit to. She inwardly cringed at the thought that she was turning feeble like Iroh. The pink non-bender held Azula’s hand between both of her own and faced her with a hopeful expression. 

“I love hanging out with you Azula! You’re a great friend,” Ty Lee shared. Azula felt mixed emotions at what Ty Lee said. She felt pleased that Ty Lee liked being around her unlike most people who tried everything in their power to avoid being by the princess. However, Azula felt bittersweet about only the acrobat only considering her a friend and not a best friend like Mai. She pulled away from Ty Lee and thanked her before leaving to use the bathroom. In the bathroom, Azula leaned over the sink to spit out petals as quietly as she could manage. There were more petals this time and something that shocked Azula, blood. The red blood tainted the pink petals and scared Azula. She did not want to give up on Ty Lee. Ty Lee was probably the only person who did not hate Azula. Well, Azula wasn’t completely sure about that because she didn’t know if Ty Lee resented her for threatening her life at the circus, but never mind that. Azula either had to make Ty Lee hate her or love her and both were very strong emotions. Azula cleaned up her mess and left the bathroom so they didn’t see any evidence of her having Hanahaki Disease. Ty Lee and Mai seemed tired so Azula suggested that they could go to bed. They ran into the problem of only having two beds and three people. 

“Ty Lee and I could just share a bed,” Mai suggested. Ty Lee nodded to show that she was on board with the idea. Azula assumed that they wanted her to have the full bed so she wouldn’t grow displeased. She felt a little disappointed because had subtly wished that she’d get to share the bed with Ty Lee. 

“That seems fine to me,” she lied. Azula suddenly remembered her brother saying that she always lies. Azula didn’t care because in the end, she’d be successful no matter the cost. Zuko was just envious of everything she had. It was true that Azula had everything that he could have asked for: father’s approval, incredible fire bending, honor, and more. She had it all. ‘ _Except her mother’s love,’_ a voice whispered in the back of her head. Paying attention to the voice, Azula removed her top knot in preparation for bed. She shifted under the covers trying to get in a comfortable spot on the hard bed. Azula couldn’t wait to leave the Agni-awful town. Soon, her eyelids grew heavy and she fell asleep. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I'll try to update the story every Sunday. Some chapters might not be very long as I have to do school work now that Thanksgiving Break is over.


End file.
